kexec (was: Re: What's left over.)

Werner Almesberger
2002-11-05T17:23:32Z

By the way, let's not forget Eric Biederman's kexec. While not
perfect, it's definitely usable, and looks good enough for
inclusion as an experimental feature.

As to why we need it, I've explained this in my OLS 2000 paper,
sections 2.6 and 5:

http://www.almesberger.net/cv/papers/ols2k-9.ps

My approach was called "bootimg". kexec is similar, but does a few
things related to page sorting/moving better, and it's much smarter
about quiescencing the system before trying to reboot.

I view kexec as an "enabler", much like initrd, which had to be
part of the kernel for a while before people started to figure out
how to use it. (At this year's OLS, somebody told me they just
"discovered" initrd and are now using it. Oh well, it's only been
around for six years ;-)

It should be "experimental", because some compatibility issues
still have to be addressed, but most of this can be done in user
space, and shouldn't require significant changes in the kernel
part of kexec, or in its interface to user space.

- Werner

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_________________________________________________________________________
/ Werner Almesberger, Buenos Aires, Argentina wa@almesberger.net /
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